The text describes the 'heart of Polesia', i.e. Pinsk and Pinsk. The history of the latter in the context of the port is presented from around 1598, Jerzy Ossoliński and the desire to connect the Baltic and Black Seas by means of a canal are mentioned. Further history is the story of the Pinsk deputy Mateusz Butrymowicz, who was to be in charge of implementing these plans and whose work includes the digging of a canal connecting the Vistula with the Dnieper. The history of Pinsk itself, dating back to the 11th century, is also recalled. (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1863, T:8, pp. 260-263., after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text

Description of Pinsk and Pinsk region.

The entire vast expanse of land from the Dvina River to the north, to the middle of Volhynia to the south, has a strangely monotonous and sad physiognomy; all of it in the midst of pine thickets, "yellow sand and fine grass," as a heartfelt lyrical writer expresses it. This uniformity of nature changes only above the banks of the Nemunas and the Neris, or in places where the land climbs into light hills. But in the midst of all this area, Polesie, and especially the heart of Polesie - the Pinsk region proper - has a completely separate, outstanding feature.

Here, the Lithuanian plains fall into a large, horizontal basin and form a dark, drab and monotonous country; the main feature distinguishing it from the rest of Lithuania is that, in addition to the above-mentioned qualities, it is a wet and muddy country, like the Lithuanian Netherlands. The distinctive feature of Pinsk, and at the same time the reason for its great importance in terms of trade, is the variety of marshes, swamps and bogs, and also the multitude of rivers, rivulets, streams, rivulets, branches, lakes, ditches, canals, forming one strangely intricate, strangely fantastic water network. Four almost thousand square versts, in a relatively small space, occupy these rapids and these variously named flowing and standing waters.

The queen of local rivers is the Pripyat, whose name tri-piat' (three times five) is derived from the fact that it has fifteen tides. If we count the rivers which indirectly flow into the Pripyat, i.e. which are the tributaries of its tides, we'll find far more than fifteen; the Pina, Strumień, Ptycz, Josiołda, Słucz, Styr, Horyń, Ścwiha, Uborć, Stochód, Sławeczna, Cna, Oressa, Lana, Wellica - these are just the better-known ones; And how many minor names perhaps no geographer has overheard, how many rivulets and branches, which form every year after each spring flood and then disappear or change direction!...

It is certain that, although we have many maps, no one could or can give us an accurate map of the Pinsk region, because every spring the form here changes a little and new branches or new lakes form. The whole area of the land once or sometimes twice a year, in spring and autumn, is covered by one huge mass of water, forming a seemingly improvised Lithuanian Mediterranean sea. Every year, sudden surges of water cause considerable damage to the local population, destroying their crops, carrying away their belongings, and sometimes, at higher tides, even flooding human settlements.

This is why these dwellings look as if they were never to see tomorrow and were prepared for all the contingencies of fate... Pinsk, with all its outwardly poor and sad appearance, with all its present neglect and waste of nature's gifts, has a great future ahead of it. The earliest reference to it in the "Volumii Legum" is in 1598, when the river Styr, located in the southern part of Pinsk, in Zarzecz, was flooded and cleaned.

Several decades later, namely at the Sejm of 1635, Jerzy Ossoliński was the first to put forward the idea of connecting the two seas, the Black and the Baltic, by means of a canal, which would be extremely important for the well-being of the country. However, although the idea is due to Jerzy Ossoliński, for reasons unknown to us, it did not come to fruition until the second half of the 18th century. At that time there were already numerous attempts, both by the government and private individuals, to raise this corner of the earth.

For example, Mateusz Butryinowicz, a Pinsk alderman and then a member of the four-year Sejm, built the famous causeway stretching several miles across the main marshes, namely from Pinsk to the south to his Krystynowo estate. Traces of this causeway can still be seen in places.

The same M. Butryinovich, as MP for Pinsk, in his speech of 10 August 1790, which was appointed by the Lithuanian Parliament on 10 August 1790. The same M. Butryinowicz, as MP for Pinsk, in his speech of 10 August 1790, says that "His Majesty the King, while in Pinsk in 1784, out of curiosity deigned to drive to a manor called Kryslynowa, which was founded on drained biotopes, three miles beyond Pinsk. That the idea of raising the value of this Polesie hollow was widespread at the time, is evidenced, among many others, by the continuation of the aforementioned speech, in which Mr Pinsk argued for the necessity of "further draining the muds", compressing rivers into beds and making roads through inaccessible places.

However, twenty years before that, excellent work had been done in Pinsk, thanks to the efforts and at the expense of Hetman Michał Oginsky, i.e. a canal was dug, called Oginsky canal after its founder, half a seven-mile long, connecting the rivers Szczara and Jasiolda, and thus the Black Sea with the Baltic Sea, by means of the Nemunas and Dnieper water system. Grateful for such a civic work, the Republic of Poland decided in its 1798 constitution (Vol. Leg. T. VII p. Mi et seq.) to erect a statue of the Hetman in the courtyard of the Vilnius castle; moreover, it allocated the village of Muszkowce and the town of Łabiszyn to him for the costs of the canal's maintenance.

On the other side of the Pinsk region, Prince Bishop Massalski worked for the material welfare of the country. He intended to dam the River Uborć, which flows into the Pripyat, at his own expense, and to this end in 1789 actively set to work. By the end of that year his ships had already transported a large consignment of potash across the River Uboræ to the canal. Alongside these private endeavours, those at the helm of the government also duly recognised the importance of Pinsk and foresaw a bright commercial and industrial future for this sunken corner. Thus, in addition to the project to connect the Baltic with the Black Sea by means of a canal between the Dnieper and the Western Dvina (which in the 19th century was done under the name of the Berezinsky canal), there arose a project, even partially executed, for the Mukhavetsky or Royal canal, connecting the Pina with the Mukhavets, i.e. the Dnieper watershed with the Vistula.

The law books mention that the canal cost the impoverished Commonwealth too much to carry out, and for this reason only eight miles were dug; however, we have evidence that all possible means were used to complete this work, when under the constitution of 1775 we read:

"Reassuming the manifold constitutions about the harbour rivers, and applying, namely, the constitutions of annorum 1744 and 1764 to the cleansing of the rivers, to the opening of the navigation of the Pina and the Mukhavets, and to the cleansing of these rivers from harmful debris, we wish: that the treasury commissary of the grand duke of Lithuania may continue this work begun most sparingly." (V. L. T. VIII pp. 'i Oo).

From this we can see that the end of the 18th century brought excellent sacrifices for the welfare of the Pinsk region, with which the completion of the Mukhavetsk canal, the only large-scale work of the current century, can in no way be compared. In the times of Stanislavsky, it was clearly understood what this poor Polish land was, what future lay ahead of it, especially for the city of Pinsk itself, which was a natural centre of internal trade for almost the whole of Lithuania and Rus. The fate of this land was also reflected faithfully in its capital, the city of Pinsk, because when Pinsk is nowadays a small but dirty town, made up of almost only small wooden houses of a strange architecture, so that the picture presented here includes almost all the outstanding buildings of this town - Pinsk was completely different in the old times, especially in the 17th century.

It had a dozen or so churches and Greek Orthodox churches, with beautiful monasteries and monasteries; it had a magnificent juridica, a huge palace of the Duke and Duchess Wiśniowiecki, and many more than 6000 houses. Based on the earliest Slavic chroniclers, it seems to me that the space enclosed by Pinsk is a place where two tribes came together: the Dregovtsians, who lived between the Pripyat and the Dvina, and the Buzhans, who lived near the Bug River in Volhynia.

Topographical indications suggest that the Woodland tribe could not have reached here, but only bordered the Pinsk Polesie from the south-east; from the west, the Slavic tribes were pressed here by the Yotvingians. It was not until Vladimir the Great was able to reign in Pinsk for a while, when, having killed his brother Jaropek, he became the ruler not only of Kyiv and the Woodland, but also of the neighbouring tribes; for we know that he conquered the Yotvingians as well, and his conquests reached as far as Drohiczyn on the one hand and Novogrudok on the other. The beginning of the city of Pinsk fades into the pre-historic darkness.

The first actual mention of this city is found in Nestor under the year 1097. At that time Pinsk, together with Turow, belonged to the Kyiv prince, and it is mentioned by Nestor on the occasion when David, teaching Svyatopolk to kill Vasilk, reveals to him the reason for this plan: "for he, saith he, shall take from thee thy cities of Turow, Pinsk, and others." And so it was that Vasilko was blinded. Then, in 1099, although he was freed from captivity, nevertheless Svyatopolk set off against David, prince of Vladimir, and later went down to Brest, for a visit to Wladyslaw Herman, king of Poland, where David was next, too.

The result of this visit was that the Poles refused the help they were to give David. Having thus made an agreement with the Poles, Svyatopolk left for Pinsk and stayed there for some time, until the army he needed to besiege the city of Vladimir arrived. In 1132, Grand Duke Mstislav of Kyiv, son of Vladimir Monomakh, after some disagreements and battles with the appanage princes, gave Peraslav to Vyacheslav, and took Turow and Pinsk from him and gave them to his son-in-law Izaslav Mstislavovich.

A dozen years later, namely around 1147, George Vladimirovich Duke of Suzdal, having become the owner of Kyiv, gave his son Peresopnica, Dorohobuzh, Turow and Pinsk. Then, in 1150, Rostislav Mstislavovich gave Svyatoslav Allvlodovich Turow and Pinsk as a reward for coming to Kyiv after the death of Izaslav and protecting the power of the future prince. After three years, i.e. in 1157, as we read in Ruthenian chroniclers, Izaslav III Davidovich, first Prince of Chernihiv, as soon as he entered the Kyiv district, gathered an army and went to Turow with the aim of capturing it for Vladimir Mstislavovich. The Poles came to Turow, burned villages around it, destroyed the Pinsk area and the whole area above the Pripyat River.

And although Turow battle bravely and inflict great losses on their enemies, and despite the fact that Turow prince George Yaroslavovich sincerely asked for peace, the great prince did not want to give up his claim to Turow and Pinsk. He stood with his army near Turow for 10 days and only a horse fever forced him to retreat. At that time, other noble princes also tried their best to conquer Turow, but their efforts failed. Only in 1161 George, Duke of Turow made peace with the Grand Duke of Kyiv.

These are only occasional news about Pinsk in Ruthenian chronicles, in the epoch of the rule of the Varangian princes from the Vladimir the Great district. In general, at this time Pinsk plays a subordinate role to Turow, which was the proper capital of the small district. At the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries, the second epoch of Pinsk's history, the epoch of the rule of the Lithuanian princes, took place. Although Bielski mentions the capture of Pinsk by Skirmunt in 1160, it is difficult to rely on this information, because even before and after that Pinsk was still owned by the Rurikivich dukes. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that this capture of Pinsk was temporary, since already in the following year, as mentioned, the Turow-Pinsk district became the property of George Yaroslavovich.

When the great Vladimir principality of Klazma was established and the Kyiv princes completely weakened, the influence of Vladimir Monomakh's descendants on Turow and Pinsk was no longer as strong and stable as before. However, the influence of the Lithuanian dukes was not yet long-lasting and the immediate power often slipped away from them, passing into the possession of the dukes of Volhynia. We know from that time, i.e. from the 13th century, that Pinsk was the refuge of Wojsielko from Towciwiłł's assassins, the same Wojsielko who soon met a terrible death at the hands of Duke Lew Włodzimierski. Wojsiełko's escape to Pinsk proves that Lithuanian rule reached here at that time.

Around that time, chroniclers mention a Pinsk Greek monastery, unknown whether it was founded in the city itself or in the vicinity (in Leszno). The permanent possession of Pinsk by Lithuanian dukes actually began only from the 14th century, namely from the time when Gediminas' conquering arm seized all the cities and settlements of ancient Rus as far as Kyiv under his rule. Around the year 1320, Pinsk belonged to Gediminas, who gave it to Narymunt Gediminasovich for possession. At that time, the Pinsk principality consisted of Pinsk and Pinsk proper, Mozyr and a significant part of Polesie in Volhynia.

Narymunt's rule did not last long in Pinsk; however, Naruszewicz mentions another Narymunt, Jagiełło's brother, who, having received the name of Basil at baptism in 1387, is mentioned as "dux de Pińsk". Michał Baliński supposes that Sigismund Kiejstutowicz, Duke of Starodubia, may have ruled Piñsk during the reign of Vytautas, as the Franciscan Order was brought to the town by him in 1396. However, we have some indications that the Franciscans had settled in Piñsk somewhat earlier. For example, an oil painting has been preserved in the local Franciscan church, depicting a monk performing the baptismal rite over a man in a purple robe.

At the bottom of the painting is this inscription: "Fr Vincent the Franciscan, the first apostle, the first Guardian and Parson of Pinsk, having baptised Prince Sigismund and many other converts to Christ, himself completed his age around 1369". Then, during the reign of Sigismund I, we find news that around 1509, as a reward for his merits, the king gave the Duchy of Pinsk to Fedor Yaroslavich as a life estate; this life estate was also granted to Fedor's widowed wife Helena. During the reign of this prince, the parish church was endowed with funds from the revenues of the castle, which, as the main focus of the town, had been built here since ancient times.

After the death of Duke Fiedor's widow, Sigismund took possession of the castle, the town and the whole estate Soon after this desolation of Pinsk, the Republic tried to make amends for the heavy disasters, and already in the following June 1619 at the Vilnius tribunal we read a caring, truly paternal proclamation by S. A. Badziwiłł. A. Badziwiłł, who, in his protest against the excessive destruction of Pinsk by military colonels and lieutenants.

Although this protest was not accepted, it will nevertheless remain a beautiful testimony to what Badziwiłł was for the fate of Pinsk. Appointed starost of Pinsk by Sigismund III, as we read in his life, in January of the same year, with his brother and the court, in more than a hundred ornate sleighs, he rode to Pinsk to take over the starosty. The latter must have been a lucrative affair, as he issued a charter for it to Sigismund, according to which he was to pay a part of the income, and then, having become well-to-do, he wanted to give a one-off sum of 30,000 zlotys to the King, which, however, Sigismund did not accept. This starost of Pinsk contributed greatly to the prosperity of the town. Although during the rule of Stefan Batory, as we can read in the municipal records, Pinsk was granted Magdeburg rights (January 20, 1581), but thanks to the efforts of S. A. Badziwiłł, these rights were supplemented by the town charter. Badziwiłł's efforts, these rights were supplemented and confirmed by Wladyslaw IV in 1633. Under this date, Pinsk was granted two fairs:

"one for the new Ruthenian summer, and the other for the Ruthenian day of the Ascension of N. Mary". Mary's Ascension Day".

Besides Badziwiłł, even Bohdan Chmielnicki cared about Pinsk's fate; the treaty of Zboriv (1649) supposedly included the condition that the Leszcz Monastery near Pinsk, with all its properties, should be handed over to the Kyiv Metropolitan, and that the Orthodox churches in Pinsk, burnt down in 1618, should be allowed to be rebuilt, while the townsmen should retain their former rights and privileges.

Be that as it may, we can see that the Republic took great care in repairing war disasters; and above all, mindful of previous dangers, at the 1632 Sejm, it decided that Christians or Jews, peasants or townspeople, should together make up the cost of running the town around a rampart. Subsequently, at the Sejm of 1673, the requirements to fortify the city with the combined forces of all the states were renewed; and the privileges of the city, granted by Batory, Ladislaus IV and other kings, were renewed in their entirety.

The seventeenth century was also important for the history of Pinsk because at that time churches and monasteries began to be built, which contributed greatly to the decoration of the city. Thus in 1635 d. Stanislaw Albrycht Badziwill laid the cornerstone of Pinsk's most magnificent temple, the Jesuit church, which was completed and consecrated in the presence of the same Radziwill in 1647.

At the monastery, the Jesuits had schools, and even a printing house and a pharmacy. The construction of this temple, which even today, if not by its architectural beauty, at least impresses with its size, was contributed to by one Radziwiłł himself; we also read how long and thoughtfully the fathers walked around him, wishing to gain the Duke's protection and generosity. In 1634, they offered him two huge candles, at which a splendid peroration was said; and before that (1633), when Radziwiłł was travelling through Pinsk to Ołyka, they received him with the whole court.

Besides the aforementioned Franciscans and Basilians who settled here after the Union, there were also Dominicans, brought here in 1678, Communards, Bernardines, brought here in 1717 by Prince Michał Wiśniowiecki, and last but not least a congregation of Discalced Carmelites and Mariavites, as well as several Greek Orthodox churches. During the reign of August II Pinsk had to experience the disasters of war for the third time: the Northern genius, Charles XII, suddenly appeared in Pinsk in 1706.

A chronicle of wars and the life of this hero says that immediately after his arrival in the city on d. 5 May, Charles climbed the highest belfry of the Jesuit church, and looked around at the strange, characteristic surroundings, and seeing only marshes and swamps to the south, where he needed to go, he became convinced that there was no way he could lead his troops into Volhynia.

He therefore decided to stay here for a while, until his army arrived. From Pinsk he made excursions to Kiecko, Nesvizh and Stuck, and in these towns forced the garrison to surrender. Around June 3 he left the city. The Swedish army stayed in Pinsk for almost a month, and their stay has remained in the living tradition of the people, all the more so because Charles, on leaving, completely destroyed the suburb belonging to Prince Wiśniowiecki, then starost of Pinsk and an ardent supporter of Augustus, and ordered his magnificent, newly-built palace to be blown up.

Traces of this palace, or rather castle, still remain, and if today we are unable to say anything about its architecture, at least judging from the area it occupied, we can guess that it was built on a very large scale. The 18th century was calm for Pinsk citizens. The city started to become prosperous again due to the extended trade relations, although they were the ones who benefited most from this trade due to overcrowding and the predominance of Jews.

Pinsk and the entire Pinsk county belonged to the Brest-Litovsk voivodeship and, as a county town, had non-extensive jurisdiction. However, the local universities contributed somewhat to the revival and uplift of the town. After the dissolution of the Jesuits in 1773 and the collapse of their colleges, the leading school in Pinsk was the six-class Franciscan school and also the six-class Piarist school in Lubieszów, a few miles from Pinsk. The latter was especially distinguished for its good direction and honoured with the names of Adam Stanisław Naruszewicz, Leon Borowski, Father Moszyński and many others who were educated there.

King Stanislaw August was curious to see the work of Hetman Oginski and Mateusz Butrymowicz, and in 1781 arrived in Pinsk, where Bishop Naruszewicz of Smolensk welcomed him with a splendid speech, and the nobility, having gathered in great numbers, joyfully and generously received him. Stanislaw August's journey to Dulrymdwicz's Krystynowo estate and the dressing of the dyke, which had been forcibly raised, as well as his journey to Horajec, where the Muchawiec canal was, clearly indicate the purpose of the King's arrival. He was able to assess the huge facilities of the time and understood the importance of Pinsk for internal trade.

The only thing we can mention about the current century of Pinsk's history is that the town, incorporated into the Minsk province and too far away from the centre of the province administration, has been forgotten today. Only during the famine of 1845 and the Crimean War of 1855 was it realised how important Pinsk was as a port, as in those years it was a real grain granary for the far-flung rayon around. In spite of this, however, no one thought that Pinsk, by its very nature, should be the central city of a separate governorate, which could include, besides Pinsk, the districts of Mozyrsk, Vyšetsk, Stucki, Kobrin, and partly of Rivne; in this way, Pinsk would become the administrative centre, as it has been for a long time due to its location, for the whole area of this part of Polesia.

To characterise the Pinsk region, here are some clothes of the Polesie people, and the Catholic church of Ochowo. Although Ochowo did not feature prominently in the history of Polesie, it seems to me that the architecture of this truly rural, modest church is worth preserving in memory. The painting in the great altar is supposed to be very ancient, which can already be seen at first glance. The great altar has recently been made by the artist-amateur Mrs Helena Skirmuntova. The sculptural work is full of simplicity and taste, although perhaps, for such an impoverished temple, a little too refined.

As for the types and folk costumes, the male ones are characterised by a strange modesty and unity, devoid of any ornamentation; the female ones, on the other hand, excel in variety and even fantasy. We present here only the main clothes, as those in Pinsk region are different almost every village. The most characteristic ones are undoubtedly those we see here on a burgher woman from Davidgródek.